Posts By: Steve Reynolds

In December 1875, a submarine communication cable ran from Normanville to Kingscote on Kangaroo Island. Society member and local resident, David Muirhead sent us the following details and photographs concerning the cable: – The spot where the communication cable to Kangaroo Island ran into the sea at Normanville (Taken by David Muirhead) The jigsaw-shaped bit of wet sand at the water’s edge on the northern corner (far right in the image) is exactly where the communication cable from the mainland…

As I stated in my article titled “Follow-up on the Schooners Lemael & Booya” at http://mlssa.org.au/2016/09/09/follow-up-on-the-schooners-lemael-booya/ , “I had previously written a series of articles regarding a number of sailing ships, but two in particular – the Booya and the Lemael. The series started with “Cyclone Tracy Shipwrecks” in our April 2005 newsletter (No.320). This was followed by “More About the Booya” in our July 2005 newsletter (No.323). The third article was titled “The Wreck of the Schooner Lemael” and…

A piece of bone that I found whilst walking on Largs North beach this month has been identified as being from a Little Penguin. I took a couple of photos of the bone, which I first thought could have been shark cartilage. I posted some of these photos on Facebook, seeking identification of the creature that the bone may have come from. My photos created an interesting debate on Facebook. The end result though, was that the bone was thought…

“Kitty” Whyte was SA’s first known shark attack victim. In March 1926, she had been giving swimming lessons to some children at Brighton jetty when she was attacked by a 3-4m shark She was subsequently rescued by two men in a boat, but she apparently died on the beach. I previously documented Kitty’s death in two past MLSSA Newsletter issues (Nov. 2011 and Feb. 2012). My two-part report regarding Kitty’s death gave the date of her death as 17th March…

I recently posted this photograph on the “ID Please (Marine Creature Identification)” Facebook page, asking “Are these sea cucumber tentacles? Taken at Port Stanvac, South Australia.” I soon received a reply from Frédéric Ducarme saying “Yes, dendrochirotid sea cucumbers.” Frederic provided me with a link to Wikipedia where it read ““Dendrochirotida are an order of sea cucumbers. Members of this order have branched tentacles and are suspension feeders. Examples include Thyonella and Cucumaria.” The Wikipedia page went on to say,…

The ‘big’ anchor at Port Noarlunga reef has been there as long as I have known, but only just. It was apparently placed in position at the reef just under two weeks before I did my first dive there. It was years before I got to see it though. It was Sunday 22nd January 1978 when divers moved the anchor from where it had been buried in sand to a rocky area where it would be seen more by divers….

As explained in my article titled “MLSSA replaced the SA Museum Underwater Research Group”, “MLSSA, formerly MARIA (SA Branch), followed on from the SA Museum Underwater Research Group. The Museum URG was established in 1957. It was part of many international URGs which commenced in France in 1945. The first URG was established in Toulon, France in 1945 and was led by Philippe Tailliez. Several URGs sprang up throughout Australia during the mid-1950s. The SA Museum URG was established in…

I took this ‘one off’ shot of a clear jelly during my dive at Moonta Bay jetty in June 2017. While the photograph is enigmatic, my observations were sufficient for me to pursue a positive identification of the species. It turned out to be a comb jelly, and my interest in the animal was piqued and extended with help from the author of the books Stung! and Jellyfish: A Natural History, Dr Lisa-Ann Gershwin. I posted the photo on the…

A small group of Society members were able to stay at the Moonta Bay Beach Villas over the weekend recently, thanks to the kindness of Peter Anastassiadis. We were supposed to be a bigger group, but half of the group cancelled out at the last minute due to cold or flu problems. Lyndon and David arrived at the villa on the Friday night. They were soon joined by Haixia Wen. Lyndon was able to do some stand-up paddle boarding by…

Osedax worms have been found in Australian waters for the first time. Osedax worms are ‘whale’ worms, worms that feed on the bones of dead whales. They were recently found burrowed deep inside the bones of a pilot whale hauled up from a deep-sea abyss off Byron Bay, New South Wales (no pun intended). The skull and spine of the pilot whale were both hauled up from the abyss off Australia’s east coast. Scientists discovered Osedax worms burrowed deep inside…